Study reveals Hip, knee replacement cost varied according to hospital

If you are wondering why your Hip, knee replacement operation bill varied by a large degree as compared to your acquaintance, the hospital you chose could be the cause of this variance.

The cost tag of any Hip, knee replacement process for privately insured subjects varied widely across three dozen hospitals in six states and a study has revealed that the hospitals themselves are the cause of this variance.

The study focused on the costs of hospital care and other allied medical service in the month after surgery, also known as an episode of care. The findings reveal a 2 fold variance in the cost for hip and knee replacement procedures.

Researchers for the National Institute for Health Care Reform wrote, “The price of the initial inpatient stay was by far the most important factor in a hospital’s spending,”

The cost of the Hip, knee replacement procedure varied from $17000 to $35000 in nine markets and across 36 hospitals. The nine markets included four markets in Michigan, the hub of the auto industry and founded the National Institute for Health Care Reform with the United Auto Workers. The study went through the medical bills for 590,000 individuals with insurance in 2011 and were associated with the auto industry

The study led to some interesting readings like the cost for the first hospital admission accounted for 81% of overall spending variations across seven hospital services which included Hip, knee replacement; other orthopedics; cardiology; neurology; gastroenterology; labor and delivery; and respiratory.

The study hints that the efforts to curb health spending must focus on hospital prices among the privately insured individuals. The health spending has historically been growing faster than the US economy. Another issue is the Re- admission instances and the focus is to give federal incentives to reduce waste and prevent repeat hospital stays.